Author: lwall
Date: 2009-02-12 18:04:41 +0100 (Thu, 12 Feb 2009)
New Revision: 25306
Modified:
docs/Perl6/Spec/S10-packages.pod
docs/Perl6/Spec/S11-modules.pod
docs/Perl6/Spec/S12-objects.pod
Log:
[S10] updates to package policies
Modified: docs/Perl6/Spec/S10-packages.pod
===================================================================
--- docs/Perl6/Spec/S10-packages.pod 2009-02-12 16:03:41 UTC (rev 25305)
+++ docs/Perl6/Spec/S10-packages.pod 2009-02-12 17:04:41 UTC (rev 25306)
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
Maintainer: Larry Wall <la...@wall.org>
Date: 27 Oct 2004
- Last Modified: 24 Apr 2007
+ Last Modified: 12 Feb 2009
Number: 10
- Version: 7
+ Version: 8
=head1 Overview
@@ -24,11 +24,12 @@
=head1 Packages
As in Perl 5, packages are the basis of modules and classes. Unlike in
-Perl 5, modules and classes are declared with separate keywords,
-but they're still just packages with extra behaviors.
+Perl 5, modules and classes are declared with distinct keywords,
+but they're still just packages with extra behaviors. Likewise every
+typename has an associated package namespace, even if unused.
-An ordinary package is declared with the C<package> keyword. It can
-only be used with a block:
+An ordinary package is declared with the C<package> keyword. Unlike in
+Perl 5, in Perl 6 it can only be used with a block:
package Bar {...} # block is in package Bar
@@ -42,29 +43,27 @@
package Foo; # the entire file is Perl 5
...
-This form is illegal in the middle of a Perl 6 file.
+This form is illegal in a Perl 6 file. If you wish to have a file-scoped
package,
+either use the brace form or declare it with the C<module> keyword instead.
Since there are no barewords in Perl 6, package names must be predeclared,
-or use the sigil-like C<::PackageName> syntax. The C<::> prefix does not
-imply top-levelness as it does in Perl 5. (Use C<::*> for that.)
+or use the sigil-like C<::PackageName> syntax to indicate that the type will
+be supplied some other way. The C<::> prefix does not imply globalness as
+it does in Perl 5. (Use C<GLOBAL::> for that.)
-A bare C<package> declarator declares an C<our> package within the
-current package (or module, or class, or role, or...). Use C<*>
-or C<GLOBAL::> to declare a global package name.
+A bare C<package> declarator (without an explicit scope declarator
+such as C<my>) declares an C<our> package within the current package
+(or module, or class, or role, or...). Use C<GLOBAL::> to declare
+a global package name.
To declare a lexically scoped package, use C<my package>.
-Package names are always searched for from innermost scopes to outermost.
-As with an initial C<::>, the presence of a C<::> within the name
-does not imply globalness (unlike in Perl 5). True globals are always
-in the C<GLOBAL::> namespace, which has the shortcut C<*> where that
-is not ambiguous with "real" operators.
-The C<*> namespace is not "main". The default namespace for the main
-program is C<*Main> in Perl 6. All files start out being parsed in the C<*>
-package, but switch to some other package scope depending on the first
-declaration. If that first declaration is not a package variant, then
-the parsing switches to the "C<*main>" package for Perl 5 code and the
-"C<*Main>" package for Perl 6 code.
+All files start out being parsed in the C<GLOBAL>
+package, but may switch to some other package scope depending on the first
+package-ish declaration. If that first declaration is not a package variant,
then
+the parsing switches to the "C<main>" package for Perl 5 code. Perl 6 code
+stays C<GLOBAL> in that situation. The mainline code is thus in the
+C<GLOBAL> namespace unless declared otherwise.
Package traits are set using C<is>:
@@ -81,6 +80,32 @@
syntax that lets you do a lookup in a particular symbol table. In this case,
the key is not parsed for C<::>. It's just a hash lookup.
+=head1 Package nesting
+
+A declaration of any object of the form C<A::B::c> also creates (if needed)
+an empty package C<A>, and an empty package C<B> inside of C<A>, in addition
to creating
+C<c> inside of C<B>. Such empty packages may be subsequently be redeclared as
any other
+package-like object (module, class, etc.), and no redeclaration warning will
be issued
+for such a redeclaration. If a parent package already exists, no stub package
+needs to be created, and no declaration of the form C<A::B::c> has anything
+to say about the type of package C<A> or package C<A::B>, since any package
variant
+can function as a package for the purposes of naming things.
+
+Apart of package declaration constructs, package names are always searched
+for from the innermost lexical scope to outermost. If not defined in any
+surrounding lexical scope, the package is searched for from the current
+package up through the containing packages to C<GLOBAL>. If it is not found,
+a compiler error results.
+
+As with an initial C<::>, the presence of a C<::> within the name
+does not imply globalness (unlike in Perl 5). True globals are always
+in the C<GLOBAL::> namespace.
+
+The C<PROCESS::> namespace, shared by all interpreters within the process,
+is notionally outside of C<GLOBAL::>, but package searches do not look
+there for anything. (Contextual variable searches do; C<$*PID> will eventually
+locate C<$PROCESS::PID> if not hidden by an inner context's C<$PID>.)
+
=head1 Autoloading
A package (or any other similar namespace) can control autoloading.
Modified: docs/Perl6/Spec/S11-modules.pod
===================================================================
--- docs/Perl6/Spec/S11-modules.pod 2009-02-12 16:03:41 UTC (rev 25305)
+++ docs/Perl6/Spec/S11-modules.pod 2009-02-12 17:04:41 UTC (rev 25306)
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
Since there are no barewords in Perl 6, module names must be predeclared,
or use the sigil-like C<::ModuleName> syntax. The C<::> prefix does not
-imply top-levelness as it does in Perl 5. (Use C<::*> or C<GLOBAL::> for
that.)
+imply globalness as it does in Perl 5. (Use C<GLOBAL::> for that.)
A bare (unscoped) C<module> declarator declares a nested C<our> module
name within the current package. However, at the start of the file,
Modified: docs/Perl6/Spec/S12-objects.pod
===================================================================
--- docs/Perl6/Spec/S12-objects.pod 2009-02-12 16:03:41 UTC (rev 25305)
+++ docs/Perl6/Spec/S12-objects.pod 2009-02-12 17:04:41 UTC (rev 25306)
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@
Without a C<my> or other scoping declarator, a bare C<class>
declarator declares an C<our> declarator, that is, a name within
-the current package. Since class files begin parsing in the C<*>
-(C<GLOBAL>) package, the first class declaration in the file installs
+the current package. Since class files begin parsing in the
+C<GLOBAL> package, the first class declaration in the file installs
itself as a global name, and subsequent declarations then install
themselves into the current class rather than the global package.
